Martinez school board member in hot water over air-conditioning comments

The Martinez school board voted to give A/C to John Swett and not Las Juntas, a majority Latino school. (Google Maps)

There’s a huge hullabaloo coming out of the Martinez school district, where a school board member recently said a school educating predominantly low-income and Hispanic students doesn’t need air-conditioning as much as a school with mostly white and wealthier students.

Because, said school board member Denise Elskin, the kids at the white school, John Swett, likely have A/C at home, while the poorer students at Las Juntas probably don’t and therefore are used to the heat. She suggested planting some big trees at the poor school instead.

Uh … It didn’t take long for video highlighting the comments to start it’s viral journey around social media this week, with accusations that Elskin’s comments were racist and/or classist.

The video, however, fails to offer some pertinent context, including the fact that parents petitioned the district for A/C at the two schools, but there is only enough money to cool one school, according to media reports.

The school board voted on March 30 to give A/C to John Swett and not Las Juntas. The whole school board, that is.

That’s when Elskin made her comments. But also not included in the video is the fact that while John Swett teachers and staff said A/C was a top priority, the teachers at Las Juntas said they needed other things first — athletic fields and other programs.

Also of note: Elskin’s kids went to Las Juntas and she volunteered there for nearly a decade. She reportedly has admitted her poor choice of words in the explanation of why one school should get A/C and not another.

Still, the situation raises the ongoing issue of the inequality in public schools. Ultimately, it’s not that the kids and teachers at Las Juntas want or are more accustomed to sweating through math class when the temperature hits 100 outside. Like their peers at John Swett, they want/need air-conditioning. They just said they want/need other things more.